Budget 2021: No change to the RDTI, but some bright spots for startups May 11, 2021 Workers take a look at the 'Budget Tree' at Parliament House in Canberra. Source: AAP Image/Lukas Coch. In the run-up to the 2021 federal budget, there was a certain sense the focus would be on innovation, technical creativity and tech as a booster to the economy. In some way, it is. But perhaps not in the way many in the sector would have liked. In his speech this evening, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will hail digital skills and infrastructure as “critical for the competitiveness of our economy”. To those of us who live and breathe startups, that should mean investment in the early-stage tech companies that will become the next Atlassian and Canvas. To Frydenberg, not so much.